Well done, Zimbabweans, for rejecting Mnangagwa’s mediocrity!

In the midst of all the justifiable disgruntlement and dissatisfaction with the grossly flawed recently-held elections in Zimbabwe, there is one unequivocally loud message sent by the electorate.

In spite of the accusations of massive vote rigging, rural voters being frog-marched to polling stations and intimidated into voting for the ruling ZANU PF party, amongst numerous other irregularities – there was no denying it that the ordinary citizenry sent one clear statement.

In as much as SADC, AU-COMESA, the Commonwealth and other international election observer missions (including the EU and Carter Centre) raised doubts on the freeness, fairness and credibility of Zimbabwe’s elections in their preliminary reports – there is still reason for Zimbabweans to celebrate.

According the disputed results announced by the ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission), incumbent President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa ‘won’ by 52.6 percent – whilst his main rival, the CCC’s Nelson Chamisa, garnered 44 percent.

In actual numbers, Mnangagwa received 2,350,111 votes and Chamisa 1,967,343.

Based on official figures by ZEC, 6.5 million people had registered to vote in this year’s elections – yet, from the results, it shows that only 4.5 million people bothered to go and cast their votes on 23rd and 24th August.

This leaves an enormous 2 million Zimbabweans who decided not to go to the polls.

It will require intensive research to ascertain why such a huge number of people, who clearly had registered to vote, chose not to do so when it mattered the most.

However, I have my own theories.

On the top of this list is the forced registrations of people – especially those considered ZANU PF members, and also those in rural areas – where threats and intimidation, with the use of traditional and ruling party leaders, played a major role.

Although it is not clear just how many people are members of ZANU PF, but 5 million has been thrown around by the party – thus their pre-election slogan of ‘5 million votes for ED’.

As such, if only 2.4 million people voted for Mnangagwa – what happened to the other 2.6 million?

Does this not show that, either the ruling party was lying and grossly exaggerating its membership figures – or, as could be the case, most of those who joined did it purely out of fear, and had no intentions whatsoever of voting for ZANU PF?

We even have those countless affiliates, which bordered on the insane and ridiculous – such as ‘Mapositori/MaZion for ED’ who promised Mnangagwa over 2.5 million votes!

If indeed they delivered on their pledge, then are we to say the only people who voted for him during the just-ended elections were Mapositori and MaZion sect members – since the 2.4 million votes he garnered leave no room for any other voters!

The truth is, of the humongous members of these Christian sects – only a fraction actually voted for Mnangagwa – in stark contrast to what their leaders believed would be the case.

Why did ordinary Mapositori and MaZion decide to keep their precious votes away from Mnangagwa?

We can even look at the votes which Chamisa attained.

As much as the CCC roundly disputed this figure – alleging fraudulent ballot tabulation and other electoral irregularities by ZEC, state institutions and ZANU PF itself – 1,967,343 people still cast their votes for him

It is still highly impressive, taking into account the fear instilled in the electorate (especially in rural areas), the unashamedly biased state-owned media, repeated denials by the police to hold campaign rallies, and election day shenanigans where some polling stations in known opposition strongholds did not open for up to 12 hours.

So, why would Mnangagwa only get a paltry 2,350,111 votes – out of 6.5 million registered voters?

Is this not the man who bragged that he did not need an election manifesto, since his works spoke for themselves?

Did he not boast of ‘phenomenal development projects’, which supposedly ‘greatly improved the livelihoods of ordinary Zimbabweans’?

Nevertheless, in reality this was not the case.

In fact, since usurping power, in a military coup d’état, from long-term tyrant Robert Gabriel Mugabe in November 2017, the lives of the ordinary citizenry have taken a turn for the worse.

In 2018, for instance, teachers earned an average US$580 a month – today their actual salary is no more than US$100, save from some so-called ‘cushioning allowances’.

According to the UN, half the population lives in extreme poverty (on less than US$1.90 a day), whilst two thirds of Zimbabweans earn below the poverty datum line.

The local currency is at a staggering ZW$5,000 to one US dollar – meaning that the prices of basic commodities are out of the reach of millions.

These millions include ZANU PF supporters, Mapositori and MaZion, MaHwindi, teachers, and every other Zimbabwean – some of whom joined these ‘for ED’ groups out poverty and sheer desperation.

They hoped to, at least, receive something to keep them alive – in the form of supposed ‘empowerment projects’, as street vending, artisanal mining, homemade detergent making, and others.

In all this, these ‘beneficiaries’ – awarded on account of their ‘loyalty’ to the ruling party – could still not even make ends meet, let alone purchase or build their own houses, or buy their own cars.

Those in rural areas ‘joined’ ZANU PF out of the desire for food aid, free agricultural inputs and other handouts – as a direct result of the poverty authored by Mnangagwa’s administration.

Of course, fear of a brutal reign of terror also played a part in them ‘joining’ ZANU PF.

As such, did Mnangagwa seriously expect to get votes from all these people – some of whom donned his party regalia, and attended his rallies en masse?

Was he too blinded by his own ego and delusions of grandeur to realize that this was all a façade – as all these people never really loved him?

That is why, despite rampant intimidation – with traditional leaders and the shadowy ZANU PF affiliate FAZ (Forever Associates Zimbabwe) taking down villagers’ names and frog-marching them to polling stations – he still only managed to get 2,350,111 votes (52.6 percent).

In other words, ordinary Zimbabweans sent a very clear and unambiguous message to Mnangagwa – they rejected his mediocrity, packaged as ‘development’.

As a matter of fact, in quite a number of constituencies, ZANU PF local authority and parliamentary candidates actually attained more votes than Mnangagwa!

For instance, in Cowdry Park (Bulawayo), the ruling party parliamentary candidate, Mthuli Ncube, received 6,530 votes – whereas, Mnangagwa got a paltry 3,317.

That is why, even in urban areas, in spite of the so-called ‘road rehabilitation program’ (where a handful of roads were resurfaced), and the sinking of boreholes (in the ‘ruralization’ of our towns and cities), he was overwhelmingly rejected by the electorate.

Of course, I can not do justice to this analysis without looking at why the 2 million, who did not go to the polls, chose not to vote for Chamisa, instead.

That is the 2 million dollar question.

In the past, I have openly made it clear that the only times I voted were in 2000 and 2002 – whereby I elected the main opposition at the time, the MDC.

Nonetheless, I was soon to lose hope and become disenchanted – since it soon was clear that the opposition was just as corrupt and incompetent as the ruling party.

It was as if they were both cut from the same cloth.

This was obvious in the gross mismanagement in urban areas, of which the opposition have been in charge for the past two decades.

In my own small town of Redcliff, we have not had any potable water in our homes in nearly two years – in the midst of endless undeniably lame excuses being proffered time and time again.

Of course, this time around, I did go out to vote.

However, I made it abundantly clear to our local CCC council and parliamentary candidates that the only reason I voted for them was not because they were good – but, simply because they were the lesser evil of the two on the ballot paper.

I told them that I would be a fool to expect any improvement in the pathetic service delivery, and had already braced myself for the continuation of our sad plight.

Maybe I was already a fool in choosing to participate in elections, this time around – whilst fully aware that there was no better option on the table!

That is why I genuinely believe there are those 2 million who were wise enough to simply stay at home.

Indeed, there is no denying it that elections are an opportunity and inalienable right to determine one’s own future.

Nevertheless, in Zimbabwe it becomes a bit tricky – as there are no real viable alternatives from which to choose!

No wonder a whole 2 million voters did not go anywhere near polling stations on 23rd and 24th August!

The biggest takeaway, though, in this election was the outright rejection by ordinary Zimbabweans of Mnangagwa’s mediocre ‘development’.

They made it loud and clear that he was the main source of their unimaginable poverty and suffering.